Family Day strives to be part of the solution

Family Day at the Park might just be the best event of the year in Stockton, and not because it's sponsored by The Record.

Lori Gilbert

Family Day at the Park might just be the best event of the year in Stockton, and not because it's sponsored by The Record.

It's because it's a day of great moments, opportunity, and hope.

Stories of tragedy in Stockton seem to arrive daily. Someone was shot or someone is recovering from a gunshot wound, or someone was hurt or killed trying to elude the police.

At the core of the problem, much of it gang related, is that as a community we have not done enough to offer a better option.

Family Day at the Park, a literacy and book fair, offers a solution. It extols the virtue of books and reading. Without the ability to read, education just cannot successfully happen. For a kid unable to succeed at education, gang membership seems like a viable alternative.

Family Day at the Park makes reading fun and exciting. Countless agencies set up stations to share with parents information about programs and services available to them. Kids, though, don't have to hear the blah, blah, blah. They get to engage in a fun activity at each booth, so each stop is informational and fun.

Families walked around with bagfuls of goodies picked up at different stops, including jump ropes and Hoola Hoops from a booth focusing on fitness and health.

Another advertisement for good health came in the form of University of the Pacific's basketball team, which marched in the opening parade, then spent time in the Library's Enchanted Castle.

Senior Trevin Harris, 24 and nicknamed Grandpa Trevin by his younger teammates, was selected to read. Children ran inside the tented area to sit and listen to a story from a sports hero. Harris' teammates sat and listened too.

Wearing their black game jerseys, the Tigers stood out in the crowd and offered a positive message. They're not just athletes. They're student-athletes.

Harris, who is married and served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the midst of getting his college degree and playing basketball, grew up involved in community service.

"I'm used to reading to kids. I enjoy it," Harris said.

His teammates didn't read, but they posed for pictures and met new fans.

"This is great," senior Jordan Turner, 22, said. "It's a great feeling to see all the kids, and it's a good family atmosphere. It's something I wish I'd gone to when I was a kid."

Turner grew up in Oakland and said his mom might have taken him to a similar event, but he can't remember. "Hopefully we did something to have a lasting impression," he said.

As he and his teammates were leaving, heading to work out in the weight room as they prepare for their upcoming season, Turner said, "This is probably the best part of our day."

Family Day at the Park tends to have that impression on people.

Lodi's Danna Smith, author of five children's books, made her third appearance at the event on Saturday.

"I'd have to say it's my favorite event of the year," said Smith, who regularly visits schools, bookstores and libraries. "Anything to get kids excited about reading and books."

Next to her in the King Author's Court area, husband and wife team Hans and Jennifer Hartvickson were selling their books about Mister Lemur. Actually, Jennifer, who grew up in Angels Camp as Jennifer Test and graduated from Bret Harte High School, was reading to kids. Hans was handling the sales, solo.

"The purpose of Mister Lemur, our goal, is to educated kids, and this is a great chance to reach a lot of kids," Hans Hartvickson said. "This is our first year here, and I'm impressed. There's a lot of energy and it's inspiring to see families so interested and asking questions. We don't have kids, but it's a place I'd like to take kids if I had them."

Hundreds of families with kids of all ages brought their children.

"Family" was truly the operative word. It was the community as a family, embracing and encouraging literacy. All seemed to understand the value of the cause.

It's why Nancy Libbey Mills returned to her hometown from her current home in Colorado with a book she'd written about a dog just for the events.

It's why Kim Brown, the inspiration for the character D.W. in the Arthur books written by her brother, Marc Brown', came to Stockton Family Day and to visit multiple schools.

At McKinley School on Thursday morning, she told of being the baby of the family and how her brother, who drew pictures for other people's books, was telling his young son a bed time story when he came up with the idea of Arthur the aardvark.

He turned that story into his first book 36 years ago and continues to write Arthur books. A PBS television series began 16 years ago.

"You don't have to be a sports hero to go far," Kim Brown told the 200 first and second graders in the crowd.

You can succeed by reading and drawing. She even taught them how to draw Arthur.

"I'm trying to inspire the kids to read, write and draw," Kim Brown said. "Hopefully they'll walk out of here and want to read an Arthur book. Or any book."